


Between Me and You

by Beckon



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Guilt, Light Angst, Little bit of MK11 lore, Little bit of MK9 lore, Post-MK9, Talking, Unresolved Conflict, Unresolved Tension, hard truths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28599456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckon/pseuds/Beckon
Summary: "Look, you can talk me up all you want, but the fact of the matter is I didn't- I didn't go into this to help you," Stryker started.He was hoping to correct whatever false image he had inadvertently created for himself, without completely throwing anyone under the bus while he did it. Without completely dismissing the Lieutenant in front of him."I went in after my partner. And even if Earthrealm, or whatever is safe, even if we're safe from future invasions because of whatever it was that we did, I didn't get my partner back."
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Between Me and You

**Author's Note:**

> I have almost zero recollection of MK9, BUT I really wanted to do something in regards to Stryker and Kabal's relationship. I use to spam watch Stryker's MK9 chapter and I really liked their interactions with one another. I am also a sucker for the bad guy turned good guy sort of vibe- which they sort of threw away in MK11. Lore kind of got fucked with the new timeline. 
> 
> Anyways, I tried to blend both of Kabal's backstories together, which is a big step considering I never write the guy, but I like Stryker and it doesn't feel right to have one without the other.

Stryker kept the frozen can of beer pressed to the back of his neck.

He was trying to quell the tension that ran between his eyes, that pulled tight in his jaw; the tension that pulled tight in his throat and made it feel as though he was trying to breathe with a fist clenched around his neck.

The frozen beer didn't really help any of that.

But the cold chill on his skin kept some of his attention off of his other ailments.

It was better than nothing.

The tension, the strain had been lingering on for weeks now.

Stryker was certain that it was all just in his head.

That it was just a result of compounded stress, of anxiety- of a newfound nightly routine of restlessness. That it was just a result of all the mental gymnastics he had been doing as of late; that it was just the results of him still desperately trying to make sense of the world around him again.

Standing in front of the full-length window, looking out, he could see the silhouettes of massive, mechanical cranes in the distance.

They were just barely lit up by the lights from the buildings all around them.

They reminded him of the scattered papers on his home desk.

Of the notepads collecting on his bedside table.

Each one filled with the scribbling of thoughts, of memories, of loose dreams and reoccurring nightmares.

Of paranoid thoughts and fears.

The city in front of him, the city all around him, was still being repaired, still being rebuilt.

Filling in the holes left behind by... outworldly monsters crashing through inter-realm portals, emerging from different worlds.

God, even the thought still sounded crazy.

But he had seen it all firsthand.

And he knew what he had seen was true.

The evidence of it was still being plastered all over the news.

It was still a topic of debate, of conversation with anyone and everyone on the street; no matter where he went, the conversation couldn't be avoided.

Stryker kept the TV off.

He kept to his routine; he only left for work, only left for the essentials.

He wouldn't call himself a recluse, not yet at least.

But there was the thought of becoming one; the fear of becoming one.

The paranoia of becoming one that was growing more and more every time he found himself hesitating to leave his apartment.

He just- he didn't want to talk about any of it.

He didn't even want to think about any of it.

In any other case, Stryker would've put in every ounce of strength, every ounce of focus into figuring it out, into trying to make sense of loose ends. He would've scrounged around for any hint of evidence, for any hint of gossip- _anything_ that would've given him a lead. Twelve hour shifts wouldn't be long enough for him; he would've worked and lived out of his squad car, just going from place-to-place-to-place for any piece of evidence, no matter how small.

But this.

_This_ was out of his league.

This was something that extended far beyond anything he could offer to solve.

And Stryker had to accept that now, or else it would eat him alive.

The sudden knocking at his door pulled him from his thoughts and broke him away from his blind window gazing.

And with little hesitation, Stryker found himself moving away from the window and moving across his apartment to answer it. He wasn't even thinking of his actions; he was just moving on reaction, on needing to answer whoever might be on the other side.

It wouldn't be the first time someone had come knocking at his door at this hour.

He rationalized that it was just Ms. Swain from the end of the hall.

Her sink was probably clogged again.

Maintenance didn't always answer their phones this late at night, and he knew that her son was out of the city for the week.

Reaching the door, Stryker caught himself unlatching one of the chain locks before he opted to look through the peephole first.

Just in case it wasn't Ms. Swain.

Just in case it was someone he wasn't willing to deal with right now.

And immediately, Stryker knew the person standing on the other side was closer to the second option than the first.

Blonde hair, slim fit.

Looked about 5'9''.

Something he knew even with the distortion of the peephole lens.

It was definitely a face he couldn't forget.

Stryker considered just leaving the woman out there.

But against his better judgment, he thought better of it.

After all, she would've already heard his footsteps coming to answer her.

Unlocking both sets of chain locks, he released the dead bolt and unlocked the door before he pulled it open.

Much to the equal surprise of the woman now standing in front of him.

"Lieutenant Blade."

Her rank and name let her know that he still remembered her.

To which she stood up a little straighter at the recognition.

She wasn't exactly in uniform, but the bomber jacket she was wearing looked familiar.

"Officer Stryker."

An equal trade of rank and name.

Abet, lesser than her own.

"What's with the surprise visit?" Stryker asked, figuring he was already committed to the oddity of the situation- and mild reunion.

Something that seemed equally shared on her behalf.

Even though she was the one who provoked the drop-in.

"I was wondering if we could talk," Sonya started. "You busy?"

"That's an understatement," he replied, as he found himself pulling the door open and stepping aside, allowing her to step in past him.

Part of him wanted to kick himself for allowing her such easy access into his home, especially under the rather open excuse of wanting to talk. Given his own line of work, Stryker knew he should've been more cautious with the offer.

And yet, he had already closed and locked the door behind her.

He kept to just the door lock however; he didn't want to make this late-night visit any more tense than it already was, than it already felt.

When he turned back, he noted that she was standing off to the side, looking the apartment over while she waited for him to pick a room.

She was courtesy, at least.

Stryker stepped by her and moved into the small kitchen that connected to her left, gesturing for her to follow.

There was a _lot_ for them to talk about.

It was going to be difficult to find a starting place.

Moving to the fridge, Stryker opened the door and went to place the still half-frozen beer can back inside. By this point, he was pretty certain that if he put it back into the freezer, it would more than likely pop the next time he pulled it out. And he didn't want to be bothered with cleaning up another mess.

He ran his thumb across the beer logo before he set it down, wiping off the frozen condensation that had just started to drip off.

He wasn't much of a drinker and never really had been.

He could be persuaded into the occasional social beer, but that was about it.

But Kabal had left a few cans of his favorite beer the last time he had been over to catch a game.

They were still here.

Stryker had been meaning to throw them out since Kabal hadn't made an effort to come back and collect them.

He couldn't bring himself to do it now.

"Let me guess, you're here to try and silence me in some way," Stryker spoke first, as he pushed the beer can to the back of the fridge. "I've dealt with government people like you before; I know how you work."

"Military," Sonya corrected, having finally stepped into the kitchen to join him.

"Even better," he replied. "The military's more upfront and straightforward, but they lack the tact of government guys. Can I get you something?"

"I get it, you don't trust me," she spoke instead.

"Another understatement," Stryker agreed, choosing to grab two bottles of water from the back shelf in the absence of an answer. "It's just a little suspicious that it's been over two months now without a single word from the Special Forces, especially after everything that happened. And now you're here, at-" he closed the fridge door and glanced over to the clock above the stove, "- eleven at night. And now you want to talk."

Sonya shot him a look that said she didn't want to be here anymore than he wanted her to be here.

He considered making a crack that she must've gotten lost on the New York subway, that she would've been better off getting here at an earlier time if she had had better planning.

But he decided against it.

He wasn't happy about this visit, despite his own desperation for answers.

It didn't give him an excuse to be an asshole though.

Stryker handed her one of the water bottles before he walked over to take a seat at the smaller kitchen table.

And he watched as she took the seat across from him without prompt.

"We dealt with a massive breach in security," Sonya explained, speaking before she had even fully sat down. "There were a lot of hoops that needed to be jumped through before this kind of visit could be approved. In any other case, I would've snuck out and handled it on my own, but this was a special one. As someone who works in security, who has management over their head, I'm sure you understand what I mean."

"I do," Stryker nodded. "Except I usually stick around and deal with the aftermath. I don't disappear and leave people to fend for themselves."

"I'm not exactly in a position of power to handle stuff like this," she reiterated.

"And yet, you're here," he noted. "You made it here regardless."

For what it was worth, she seemed to accept the conversation as it was.

Even with him batting at her.

"Can I call you Kurtis?" Sonya asked.

And considering no one called him that unless it was a serious, and/or legal matter, Stryker felt the tight pull in his chest at the possibility that he might actually be getting some answers.

It wasn't a guarantee just yet, but it felt like there was an opening.

"You did before," Stryker reminded.

"Yeah well, we were fighting to save our lives before," Sonya reminded in return. "We didn't really have a choice but to be on a first-name basis, now did we?"

She had him there.

There had been no time for ranks while they were in the middle of that shithole.

"Can I call you Sonya? Or would you prefer Lieutenant Blade?" Stryker asked.

"Sonya is fine."

"Kurtis is too then."

She leaned against the table for a moment, her hands flat against the surface.

It looked like she was trying to put her thoughts together.

But she had to have known what she was going to say; there would be no reason to come all the way here otherwise.

"I'll cut the bullshit," Sonya finally started. "The Special Forces is highly interested in recruiting you, Kurtis. I know you don't have the highest opinion of us right now, but we're always on the lookout for people of special interest. And due to what happened here two months ago, and how you handled both the city issue, as well as the ordeal with the Tournament, you've been put on the radar."

He had to bite his tongue.

"So this is a recruitment gig then?" Stryker pressed. "You didn't come here to explain anything about what the hell I saw?"

All that time spent waiting, and he was being treated like he was some high school kid at the mall.

"I said I would cut the bullshit- and I never said that I was finished," she replied.

Maybe, just maybe that was her truth.

Stryker leaned back in his chair and waited for her to continue.

Something she eventually took the cue of.

"I gave you a brief rundown before, during the Outworld invasion event," Sonya continued, at the very least giving him a name for what had happened. "You ran into some of Outworld's greatest fighters: Mileena, Kintaro, Ermac, Reptile, the list goes on. But you also crossed paths with some of Earthrealm's greatest warriors: Lord Raiden, Nightwolf, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao."

Stryker was certain he had met some of those people, but given everything that had been going on, he couldn't recall most of them.

He was fairly confident that if he had a face to look at then he would recognize these people.

Reptile seemed to be the easiest pick of the bunch.

Now that was a face he couldn't forget.

"For every generation, Earthrealm engages in a Tournament against Outworld, to protect our sovereignty against Shao Kahn. If we lose this Tournament ten times consecutively, we lose that sovereignty and Outworld gets the Elder Gods' favor to invade," she carried on. "Luckily, even in the event of an invasion, we still get the chance to protect ourselves. But if we lose that as well, then the fight is permanently over and merging is inevitable."

That was a lot of information at once.

In one long breath it seemed.

"Is that what happened?" Stryker questioned. "Did we lose? Is that why those monsters attacked?"

"No, quite the opposite," Sonya corrected. "We won- on the tenth attempt, thankfully. But Shao Kahn didn't accept the last-minute loss on his end and chose to break the Tournament rules to stage an invasion anyways. We managed to pull through it- _barely_. And you know the rest."

That he did.

Or at least, he hoped he did.

Stryker toyed with the bottle of water between his hands as he tried to gather his thoughts together.

"What does any of this have to do with me?"

"You helped Earthrealm defeat Outworld at its own game," she replied. "You knew nothing going in and yet, you didn't hesitate to help us."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Stryker pressed. "I got teleported into some weird place and was told that life as I knew it was hanging in the balance. And that if we didn't fight, if we didn't win, everything was for nothing."

He could still feel the stress of that entire situation on his back, on his shoulders.

Even with it behind him now, he was still finding gray hairs.

"You would be surprised at the amount of people who would still hesitate under those conditions," Sonya remarked, perhaps speaking from experience. "The fact of the matter is, Kurtis, you stood out. You weren't a part of the initial team that was chosen by Lord Raiden to go in, and yet you managed to hold the line with the rest of us. It's not every day you just walk outside and get lucky with that kind of find."

Stryker was convinced she was trying to sweet talk him now.

And doing a half-par job at it.

It wasn't like he wanted to be ripped away and be forced to fight for his life.

He had zero issues fighting for New York, fighting to protect his city.

And fighting for the whole damn realm if it meant protecting his people.

But he didn't like the way it was being painted.

It was one thing to fight for something you were passionate about.

And it was another to fight with a gun against the back of your head.

"So what happened?" he pressed.

"We fought Shao Kahn and won, through unprecedented means," she continued. "Outworld crumbled, but it's in better hands now. Princess Kitana will be looking over it until we can rehabilitate Sindel to take over. Most of our forces have recovered, thankfully, and are moving forward with Earthrealm. We're not out of danger yet, but the removal of Shao Kahn is a big step."

He definitely didn't recognize those names.

"That doesn't sound reassuring," Stryker quipped.

"It should," Sonya assured. "Again, we could use more men like you, Kurtis. You're one of a kind, even against the vast amount of fighters that Earthrealm already has. Then again, you already know that. Your reputation precedes you, after all."

"I don't want to talk about my reputation," he cut. "Do you really think I'm just going to roll over and accept a handout?"

"No. I was hoping you would at least talk and think it through first," she answered calmly, despite his subtle outburst. "You did a lot for Earthrealm, for the Special Forces. This is the least that we can do in return, which may not sound like a lot to you right now, but think of it like a slow investment. It'll build up over time, and you'll see the benefits from it soon enough."

Sure.

Recruiting into the military sounded like a _fine_ reward.

As if he didn't already consider that- when he was sixteen.

Stryker tried to get his thoughts together; he tried to keep his head together.

There was a lot going on right now, without the Lieutenant's involvement, and tonight really wasn't the best night for her to suddenly drop in. Despite his own need for answers, he wished she had waited a little longer- at least until sunrise. He could've benefited from a few hours of sleep before diving into this whole matter.

"Something wrong?" Sonya asked.

And he had zero doubt that everything he was thinking about was visible on his face.

"Look, you can talk me up all you want, but the fact of the matter is I didn't- I didn't go into this to help you," Stryker started.

He was hoping to correct whatever false image he had inadvertently created for himself, without completely throwing anyone under the bus while he did it. Without completely dismissing the Lieutenant in front of him.

"I went in after my partner. And even if Earthrealm, or whatever is safe, even if we're safe from future invasions because of whatever it was that we did, I didn't get my partner back."

He was still bitter, that much he wasn't surprised by.

There had been too many questions when he finally got back to the city.

Too many questions that he couldn't answer.

Stryker didn't care about the giant creatures, or the man with the lightning, or whatever it was that anyone saw that day.

That wasn't to say that the monsters, the fighting, the slaughtering didn't get under his skin either.

It just felt like the worst of the whole situation came in the aftermath.

When it came in the form of people asking him where Kabal was- and him realizing that he didn't have an answer.

Even now, even with the Lieutenant, he had been given a rundown on everything but his partner.

He was sitting here being sweet-talked and praised, meanwhile there hadn't been a single consideration given to the one reason he went to that Outworld realm in the first place.

It just felt like no one gave a shit about where Kabal went.

No one cared but him.

Of course, the rationale part of his mind reminded him that it wasn't the Lieutenant's fault. Sonya had been caught up in her own mess, in her own thing; she couldn't possibly keep track of everyone who was there, let alone where everyone had gone afterwards. She said it herself that she wasn't exactly at the top of the food chain in terms of command. And just like him, she couldn't get her hands on all of the information; she could only give him the information that she knew, and the information she had access to.

Just like him, her hands were tied.

It didn't stop him from feeling that tension in his jaw again, that tightness in his throat.

A man just ups and disappears in the middle of some inter-realm war.

And only one of them notices.

"Kabal was my brother, Lieutenant," Stryker started, finding himself more at ease with just using her rank instead of her name. It didn't feel right to act like they were friends, to act like this was a personal matter shared between anything more than acquaintances. "Do you know what it's like to lose someone like that? And not be given a single word of information on what happened to them?"

She didn't answer.

She seemed to contemplate his words over before she leaned back and reached into her jacket. Fingers fumbled some before she pulled out a wallet, before she pulled out what looked to be a small photo. She looked it over herself before she silently put it down on the table and slid it over to him.

Stryker didn't take it immediately, but eventually he did.

He turned it around to look at it.

It was a picture of the Lieutenant, that much he recognized.

And with her was another blonde-haired man.

The two of them had an arm around the other's neck, pulling one another in for the photo, and smiling for the occasion.

"Your brother?" Stryker asked, figuring he had already shot himself in the foot with this conversation.

"Twin," Sonya corrected. "His name was Daniel."

Yeah, he could see the resemblance.

"I take it something happened," he replied, not wanting to ask, not wanting to put her on the spot.

"We were running an OP on an abandoned Black Dragon hideout," Sonya answered, giving him a full response anyways. "Or at least, we were told it was abandoned. Apparently the Dragon's intel was better than ours, because we ended up running straight into an ambush. Kano got me here."

Stryker watched as she turned her head and dragged her finger along the back of her jaw, showing off the barely visible scar that ran underneath it.

"He slit Daniel's throat. He was dead before we could even call for back-up."

He didn't know the Lieutenant all that well, all things considered.

But he still felt a chill run up his spine at the ending.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Stryker spoke, hoping the words sounded even a little sympathetic.

He slid the picture back to her.

And watched as she put the photo back into her wallet, back into her jacket, before she leaned back into her chair.

"I know what it's like to lose someone," Sonya continued. "And while I know what happened to Daniel, there's been other people lost that I never got a full briefing on. I've been given a death report, a shift delay, and advice to not speak further on the issue. It's not easy to swallow."

She paused, either to recollect herself, or give him a pause to recollect himself.

"What do you remember? What happened the last time you saw Kabal?"

Stryker wasn't anticipating her question and found himself repeating it over and over again in his head before he realized what she was asking.

It was the same question he had asked himself before.

"I don't know, we were at that Outworld palace," he started, trying to wrangle the memory himself.

He usually pretty good at remembering things, at remembering small details, but the stress, the adrenaline back then had made it difficult to focus on what exactly was going on around him. And in turn, he couldn't remember much during that time period. Nothing more than being scared shitless most of the time.

"We were about to go up against that mad woman," Stryker continued. "I think some of us got a few hits in before she started screaming and I don't know much past that. I think I got knocked out somehow. I just remember waking up and there being a lot of blood and Kabal wasn't there."

He paused to pinch the space between his eyes, trying to quell the memory-induced headache that was already warming itself up inside of his skull.

"Look, I know that Kano guy did that stuff to Kabal, putting him in that mask and shit," he started once more. "I guess we both have our reasons to hate him."

The words felt disrespectful the moment they left him.

They both might've had a vendetta against the same guy, but she carried a much stronger case than him.

He had no right to make the same claim as her.

"Who is this Kano guy anyways?" Stryker asked, in an attempt to deflect his previous statement.

"Kano's the leader of the Black Dragons," Sonya answered. "They're your stereotypical black market thugs. Their loyalty goes to the highest bidder, and Kano's not afraid to backstab and switch sides when it benefits him. Nothing about him can be trusted- not even to his own clan. He's been known to purposely send a few of his men to their deaths if he feels they're not pulling their weight. Or if he's just getting bored of them."

Sounded like the above-average piece of shit then.

Which just left the question of how Kabal could've gotten involved with a lowlife like that.

"How did he know Kabal?" Stryker pressed.

Sonya shot him a sympathetic look; one that warned him that he wasn't going to like what she was going to say next.

An impression that was furthered when she leaned back forward.

"Kabal used to run with the Black Dragons; we have records of him going back a few years. He was one of Kano's right-hand men, if not the only one. Kabal was fast and ruthless; we have archives detailing the amount of damages he had caused during his Black Dragon runs."

It felt like someone had doused him in cold water.

It felt like every ounce of heat in his body was suddenly sucked out.

For a few moments, Stryker didn't even think.

He just kept running her words over and over again in his head, and even then, he wasn't sure if he was actually taking the full weight of them in. This wasn't the information he wanted to hear, not after two months of silence. And yet, he had to admit that there had been a small part of him anticipating a confirmation like this- like the one the Lieutenant had just given him.

It felt like slander, like she was smearing Kabal's good name.

But as much as he didn't want to admit it, Stryker had felt like something was off about the man. During that whole Outworld fiasco, with them running around, trying to avoid getting killed, Kabal had acted like he was hiding something from him. And when Stryker called him out on it, Kabal promised to explain everything when they were safe, when they were back in Earthrealm; if anything, Kabal didn't even seem to blink at the idea of another realm.

He wondered now if Kabal was trying to keep him away from Kano, if he was trying to keep his secret from getting out.

Either way, the man never got the chance to explain anything to him.

"At some point, Kabal left the Black Dragons," Sonya continued, giving into his morbid need to know more information now. "I don't know why and I don't really know how; I just know that it pissed Kano off. I know he sent a few of his Black Dragon minions to go after Kabal, either to scare him, or persuade him to come back. And I know that none of them made it back to Kano. The Special Forces lost track of Kabal after that. We had more important things to worry about and I figured he had broken away to become his own one-man mercenary. I never would've imagined that he would join the police force, especially after everything he did."

Given that everything Kabal potentially did seem to happen in Outworld, Stryker could understand now how something like this would've gotten past the background checks.

He had always been for the idea of reform, for giving people a second chance.

Not a lot of people on the force agreed with him on that, especially given the city's fair share of crime sprees.

But Kabal had always stuck up for the idea, and had been more than willing to debate with the other guys on the force about it.

He guessed he knew now why the man had been so equally passionate on the idea.

"Kabal- he never said much about his past, or where he came from," Stryker started, perhaps in an attempt to give the man some kind of credit. To give the Lieutenant an idea of the man that he knew- and not just the man she had read about in her reports. "He always told me that he got involved with the wrong crowd as a kid. He said he used to be a part of the Matoka tribe, but that something bad happened to them. He left soon after and turned to crime to support himself. After awhile, he said he couldn't do it anymore; he swore he could feel his ancestors breathing down his neck and that he couldn't live with the guilt. He always talked about wanting to reform himself and fix the things he did wrong; he wanted to offer guidance to people who were stuck in the same situation as him."

He let himself take a minute to think.

To contemplate how Kabal had technically told him the truth, while also leaving out chunks of it at the same time.

"He was really good at tracking down criminals, at busting their hideouts, at finding drug stashes," he continued. "I guess now I'm realizing why."

"I can tell you that the part about the Matoka tribe is correct," Sonya started, perhaps to give him some comfort in return, to assure him that everything Kabal had told hadn't been a lie. "They were raided by the Black Dragons, which is how Kabal got involved with them. The tribe had been on a decline during that time period, all due to outside factors; the few who remained on the territory lived in relative poverty. Kano more than likely offered him money, offered him a way out- and for anyone looking for an escape, that would've been it."

It felt like she was just trying to soften the blow at this point.

But he'd prefer to accept it that way.

If that was the line of action, the real turn of events, it wasn't an uncommon story.

Plenty of people turned to crime to support themselves, to make a way out for themselves.

It didn't make them bad people.

Just good people stuck in a bad situation.

"If Kabal left the Black Dragons in the first place, then why would he go back?" Stryker questioned. "He should've- he would've come back with me. It doesn't make sense for him to go back to Kano."

Despite all the truths that were coming out, he still felt like he knew Kabal.

After getting burnt by that creature, and then kidnapped, and then mutilated, Kabal still managed to track him down and find him in Outworld. And Kabal never left his side after that; they were together the entire time they were stuck in that place, up until the end.

There was no reason for why Kabal would up and leave.

Not when the man promised to give an answer, to give him a full story.

The only thing that would've stopped Kabal was someone else taking him, or someone killing him.

Which were two potential truths that were hard to swallow.

Stryker didn't want to admit that he was probably being played, but the thought was there.

It was fully possible that Kabal did ditch him and did run back to join the Black Dragons.

He didn't want to accept it, but if the evidence pointed to it then he would.

"Kabal got burnt by Kintaro. Kano struck a deal with Shang Tsung to keep him alive, which is why Kabal was wearing that respirator when you found him," Sonya spoke, almost as though reading his previous train of thought. "What happened to Kabal was a mix of back alley medicine and highly concentrated magic; it's the only thing keeping him alive- and he can't maintain it on his own. Kano knew that, which is more than likely why he put Kabal through that in the first place; it would be something he could hold over Kabal's head and use to keep him in line."

Stryker still hated the memory of that crude mask over Kabal's face.

He had scribbled the design over and over again in one of his notebooks, unable to scrub the image of it from his mind.

Potential sabotage, potential blackmail had been thoughts he had touched on before.

He had just never settled on whether they were possible outcomes, or if they were just excuses he was using to comfort himself.

His line of thought was broken as he watched Sonya push herself to her feet.

"Leaving already?" Stryker asked.

"I have a flight to catch in the morning," she answered. "All I ask is that you think on this, Kurtis. Earthrealm would benefit having you on our side, but it won't be much good if it's against your will. You've already seen the kinds of situations that we're dealing with, the kinds of people that we're dealing with. It's entirely up to you."

The choice was up to him. For now.

He had a feeling he would be seeing her again if he answered against what the Special Forces wanted.

Stryker watched as she reached into her jacket and pulled a roll of papers out from it.

He wondered just what else she was hiding in there.

"You'll want to read these," Sonya started, although she kept the papers out of his reach as she spoke. "Don't think of this as a bribe, although I'm sure you've already made your mind up on it. Just know that I'm giving these to you because you deserve them, because you deserve to know. And it's not up to me, or the Special Forces to keep this away from you."

Stryker watched as she handed the papers to him now.

He didn't take them.

"You say all of that and then try to serve me papers?" he asked.

"It's a medical report," she answered.

"For what?"

"Full lung and esophagus transplant. Skin grafts covering 70% of the body, as well as more than a couple blood transfusions and tissue donations," she started. "There's a lot more details in this thing than what I can provide, so it's worth a read if you're curious. A bit of a medical feat if you ask me."

Stryker hesitated before he reached out and took the papers from her hand.

"Kabal didn't die, Kurtis, and he's not in Kano's custody anymore either. Once he's cleared for release, he'll need someone to look after him during the recovery phase- and I have a feeling you're more than willing to take that on," Sonya continued. "Don't worry with trying to explain his absence to anyone. We'll cover it- and we'll make sure that no one comes after you for more details."

He almost crushed the papers in his hold now.

Before he slowly started to unroll them.

"Good night, Kurtis."


End file.
